How lucky are we to get a sequel for such a praised show made right here in Aotearoa. I was gutted to have not seen the first iteration of H.R. The Musical from Artsense Productions but from what I can tell, this fabulous group of artists have churned out witty one liners time and time again. From the first strum of the guitar in version 2.0, we are thrown into a nonsense world of team bonding, goal setting and just general tomfoolery.

The quartet of insanely talented singers/actors propel this show forward with gusto and ridiculously loveable energy. This is not an easy show to perform, with each of them onstage almost the entire time, but they sustained such excellent characterization throughout, and you won’t be able to help but sing along with them at the end.

The concept of creating a musical that comments on the corporate world is nothing short of genius. Even as someone who works in a small arts office, so much of the content was incredibly relatable and nothing gets more laughs than shared trauma (I mean experiences *cough *cough). What I love about theatre shows like this, that have a concept almost anyone can relate to, is that it brings new people to the theatre. As a frequent theatre goer, it is so uplifting to see such a variety of people at Q Theatre, who, I’m sure. for a number of them haven’t stepped foot in a theatre before. I was even more thrilled to hear that this show was in part made using external feedback and interviews. I think some of the most exciting shows are those that dare to seek outside thoughts, asking what the audience wants to see when they come to the theatre. The result is a show with a refreshing array of exciting tidbits for the audience to sink their teeth into.

I find with the concept of a musical, that doesn’t have the size and scale of those typical of Broadway, it takes me a second to get into it, but once we hit the second half I was roaring. I loved the creative team’s (Amy Mansfield and Katie Burson) choice to add in a number of unexpected scenes throughout, an excellent palette cleanser if you will. The absurdity of it left me going ‘what the hell are they going to do next?’ (my favorite undoubtably being the caveman scene)!

The lighting by Alylai Flynn and AV by Gareth Blackler were such a fun pop of life throughout the show and really got the party going at the end. I would love to have seen a few more desks/office furniture to really help set the scene a bit more, as the Q theatre stage is so large and spacious. The AV sections supported the action on stage really effectively, but it would have been great if it could have been incorporated the whole way through.

The standout songs have to be our beloved(?) Dick, ‘Working for the Man’ (which had the most delicious vocals) and the very catchy ‘Millennial’. These numbers were exactly what you need in a musical, the type that get stuck in your head and you can’t help but want to sing along. And you just wait for the ‘rap battle’, it’s what theatre dreams are made of.

This musical was so quintessentially this time, and I can’t help but laugh at the many reasons myself or my colleagues have needed to ‘Work from Home’. In a time where jobs as we know them are changing drastically, perhaps there is some hope that we can all collectively laugh at how ridiculous things are. The ultimate satire. As always, I applaud independent theatre companies as I know how much more of a challenge it is to present work with minimal resources and these guys have really done the most with what they’ve got. I think as the run progresses, the performers will be able to settle more into the world and it will flow with a bit more ease and pace.

I can really see the passion and love that has been poured into this show. The amount of time, research (and a lot of laughs) that must have gone into coming up with so many comedic gems must have been numerous, and it was worth it for the number of un-controllable laughs that left the audience’s mouths throughout. What a great time of year to laugh about this funny old thing we do all day every day.

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